2.5L ('98-'01) i think i crossed #1 and #2 spark plug wires.

[youngmanwithapickuptruck]

i think i have my passenger side #1 and #2 boots crossed from the spark plugs to the coil pack

Its been about 5 years since my last spark plug and boot replacement so I went to swap them out. I decided to label the wires with a sharpie from where they went. I then compared it to this spark plug wire diagram i found with the google search "2000 ford ranger 2.5l spark plug wire diagram" the image's web page says its for a 98 ranger, same generation. I compared my wires to the diagram and it looks like i had my number #1 and #2 passenger side wires crossed. if my wires are crossed, how come i havent thrown any codes, and the vehicle seems to drive fine.

i recall maybe looking at my #1 and #2 spark plugs sometime 18-36 months ago, i could have mixed them up then. I also noticed my mpg has been a bit down in the past 2 or 3 year from about 27mpg to an average of about 24mph.... i just attributed that towards the engine's old age. I havent really noticed any significant loss of power, though i do grandma the vehicle.

here are pictures of number 1 and number 2 spark plugs. also spark plug 3 passenger side and spark plug1 driver side. some one please tell me i have the wrong spark plug diagram!

 

[franklin2]

I am not up on your particular engine, but do you know about a "waste spark" system? One coil shares duties with two different cylinders. It fires both plugs hooked to it at the same time, it's just when one cylinder needs to be fired, the other cylinder is on the exhaust stroke. And then vise versa when the other cylinder needs to be fired the other one is on the exhaust stroke. So theoretically certain wires could be crossed and it would not make any difference.

Someone more familiar with your engine can verify my theory or say I am full of it.

 

[RonD]

Spark plug wiring is based on where the 3 wire plugin is, look here: https://www.route66hotrodhigh.com/images/Ignition/CoilPack2.jpg

There are only TWO coils in the coil pack
1 and 4 share a coil, as do 2 and 3

3 wire connector has 2 and 3 on the right, and 1 and 4 on the left or centered as in picture

As the picture also shows 1 and 4 positions can be swapped, and same for 2 and 3, because they are on the same coil so spark at the same time

So look at where each coil packs connector is located and wire spark plugs accordingly

Found another pic: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/P1gAAOSwUKxYlpRt/s-l400.jpg

 

[scotts90ranger]

Yeah, you have one mixed up, you don't have a code for it because I'm not sure there is even misfire codes on that plus one of the two coils is wired correctly so it's just working, there's extra parts by design...

 

[youngmanwithapickuptruck]

i mean what kind of damage could 20,000miles with 1&2 crossed have done to the engine? i am at 297,000kmi

i gotta ask, does this look like my head gasket is starting to leak? does leak look bad? my engine has previous been coated in power steering fluid, but this oil looks fresh. i cant get a good look under the 'heat shield strip' to see if there is oil above that seam. also the drive side of the 'headgasket seam' seems dry. could this be related to my crossed wires?
(omg, i just topped off my oil about 50 miles ago without a funnel, maybe i just dropped some over, lol, but i always thought that stuff just burns off! i just re-checked and there doesnt seem to be any trail of fresh oil from the spout to the seam...)

I keep wondering about a compression test and everyone keeps saying "dont bother on a $1000 truck" but considering a replacement truck would be $10,000. even when car prices were down, it still seemed like a worthwhile idea to check on the state of my engine power/efficiency, but everyone just kept telling me not to bother.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

i mean what kind of damage could 20,000miles with 1&2 crossed have done to the engine? i am at 297,000kmi

i gotta ask, does this look like my head gasket is starting to leak? does leak look bad? my engine has previous been coated in power steering fluid, but this oil looks fresh. i cant get a good look under the 'heat shield strip' to see if there is oil above that seam. also the drive side of the 'headgasket seam' seems dry. could this be related to my crossed wires?
(omg, i just topped off my oil about 50 miles ago without a funnel, maybe i just dropped some over, lol, but i always thought that stuff just burns off! i just re-checked and there doesnt seem to be any trail of fresh oil from the spout to the seam...)

I keep wondering about a compression test and everyone keeps saying "dont bother on a $1000 truck" but considering a replacement truck would be $10,000. even when car prices were down, it still seemed like a worthwhile idea to check on the state of my engine power/efficiency, but everyone just kept telling me not to bother.

Its probably a valve cover gasket.

If a 4 cylinder is misfiring youre going to know it. Losing 25% of your cylinders is going to be a big loss. Like losing 2 on a V8.

 

[RonD]

The 2.3l/2.5l Lima SOHC engines ran just fine on 4 spark plugs from 1974 thru 1988
The dual spark plugs were added with distributorless change over in 1989 to get a little extra power from these engines

As long as one coil pack was wired correctly engine would run fine, as it did from 1974 thru 1988
Miswired coil pack wouldn't "hurt" anything, just wouldn't get that extra power from dual spark plugs


With these dual spark plug engines its a good idea to unplug the 3 wire connector on one coil pack, and then start the engine
As said, should idle fine, even drive fine if you want
If there are misfires then one or more spark plugs, or wires, on that working coil pack are bad
Repeat test using other coil pack

The benefit of dual spark plugs is more power
The down side of dual spark plugs is you can never tell when 1 spark plug in a cylinder is not working, no misfires until BOTH spark plugs in one cylinder fail

Do the test once a year, or as needed

Multi-valves took the place of dual spark plugs for extra power, its a better use of cylinder head space, more power added than dual spark plugs, just FYI
i.e. the Duratec 2.3l engine(2001 and up Rangers) has 4 valves per cylinder and single spark plugs

 

[youngmanwithapickuptruck]

im guessing that even if the secondary spark plug is firing at the wrong time, it wont cuase much of an issue becuase the injector is not flooding fuel into the chamber for it to combust at the wrong time. does my logic make sense?

 

[RonD]

Yes

Spark plugs can not ignite gasoline until its vaporized by compression, the movies guys take liberties with that fact, lol
In your current system, properly wired, spark plugs fire at both Top Dead Centers for their cylinders
TDC compression stroke(fires the cylinder)
TDC exhaust stroke(wasted spark, which is why its called a "waste spark system")

This was the first spark system ever used in gasoline/alcohol engines in the 1890's
Uses crank timing for spark
Single cylinder engines still use it
Distributors were added later when multi-cylinders were needed
Then electronics got better, no points were needed, so back to crank timed spark

 

[youngmanwithapickuptruck]

I made this tool to extract plug 3 & 4 cuase i lost the rubber gasket to my sparkplug socket
ONE MORE QUESTION: i dont need dialectric grease where the spark plug wires meet the coil pack, correct?

 

[franklin2]

The grease is always good to use if you have it. It keeps the boots from getting stuck. Those sparkplug wires are more delicate than most people think. If you get rowdy with them trying to get them off you can break them inside. They are nothing but a small string with carbon in it.

 

[youngmanwithapickuptruck]

The grease is always good to use if you have it.

grease between wire and coilpack? damn it, i just removed all the old grease and installed them dry. would it be worth my time to remove and reinstall with grease? i figure itll take 15 min max.

okay, even bigger screw up. i mis-matched wires during installation and had to remove one to put it on the other side. it looks like the 'wire-to-sparkplug connector' has seperated as shown in the picture. is there any chance there is still a connection? i figure i could run the test mentioned here to see if that wire is firing the plug.

With these dual spark plug engines its a good idea to unplug the 3 wire connector on one coil pack, and then start the engine
As said, should idle fine, even drive fine if you want
If there are misfires then one or more spark plugs, or wires, on that working coil pack are bad
Repeat test using other coil pack

would i be okay to use one of the older cables on that plug? where can i buy single spark plug wires?
does length in spark plug wire matter to the computer or does the electricity pretty much travel instantly regardless of spark plug wire length?

AND ANOTHER QUESTION
driver side boot #4 feels like it just slides on and off and has only the slightest bit of suction when i tug at it. how do i verify its making a good connection/spark? do i perform "dual spark plug firing test" as quoted above?

 

[youngmanwithapickuptruck]

IT RUNS!

Ron, i did the coil pack disconnect test on both coilpacks and engine seems to run fine, therefore...
the loose driverside #4 seems to be holding (and hopefully bonds further with time)
the potentally disconnected 'wire-to-sparkplug connector' on wire passenger-side #3wire is still sparking the cylinder

thank you, thank you,
i promise to help my friends out with their cars and also try and pull over when i see any rangers on the side of the road with the hoods poped open!
I will now enjoy my beer and spliff